1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an elastic feeding and tensioning mechanism and method for feeding to the stitching needle of a sewing machine at least a stretched portion of the elastic band whereby to produce a gathered fabric with the gathers being formed by releasing the tension in the band after the band is stitched to the fabric piece.
2. Description of Prior Art
It is known to provide gathers in fabrics by gathering the fabric and stitching the gathered fabric over an elastic band. This requires a special feeddog assembly and guide having a feeddog capable of gathering material prior to the sewing of same. Also, the complexity of the feeddog assembly results in many malfunctions and machine down time. Further, such machines are solely designed and constructed to effect an elastic band application function and the sewing machine cannot be used for other work which requires ordinary stitching. A still further disadvantage of known prior art machines is that they do not produce a quality product, are expensive to fabricate, and are not adaptable to existing sewing machines.